For several years, Hartford City Mission (HCM), a participant in the Urban Alliance network, has been operating youth programs in Hartford. Their programs include Camp Noah, a Christ-centered day camp for children in Hartford that is hosted at fellow Urban Alliance network participant Glory Chapel International Cathedral, Noah After-School, a program that helps students improve homework and reading skills and learn how Jesus loves them, and Hartford YoungLife, a program that is open to teens in grades 8 through 12.
In addition to youth programs, Hartford City Mission has grown to include additional neighborhood ministries, including Women of the Vine and Vine Street Blockwatch. Because their ministries have grown so significantly over the recent years, Hartford City Mission had prayerfully discerned that they needed a full-time leader to guide their day-to-day activities and to implement ministry expansions, which include establishing new Noah After School tutoring sites, potential building plans for a private Christian school, a youth jobs program, a community developer and additional plans.
After an extensive local and national candidate search, Tom Kubiak was hired as Hartford City Mission’s first executive director. The HCM Board of Directors shared their enthusiasm about their new hire: “The board is fully united and believes that Tom is God’s person to serve in this critical new leadership role and help take the ministry to the next level of Kingdom impact.”
According to Hartford City Mission’s website, “Mr. Kubiak was raised in a Christian family in Chicago. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible and Pastoral Studies from Maranatha Bible College, a Master of Divinity degree in Biblical Languages and Systematic Theology from Denver Baptist Theological Seminary and completed four years of doctoral studies with a concentration in preaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
After serving as a pastor in suburban communities for sixteen years, Tom, along with his wife Joanna, and their three children David, Leah, and Sarah, were led by God to relocate to an urban neighborhood (South Loop) in Chicago.
With God’s calling and provision they planted a church in the city where Tom served as the senior pastor, and over the last twelve years have built a healthy, culturally diverse, and growing urban ministry. He ministered to the people in their neighborhood through his church and was also involved in helping to transform their community through volunteer service with other pastors and ministries, the Chicago Police Department, Chicago Public Schools, an after-school tutoring program in a housing project, local government, an outreach to homeless veterans, and the Christian Community Development Association of which Hartford City Mission is also a member.
Sensing God’s call on their lives to move on to a new ministry challenge as their church reached mature stability, to move on to a new chapter in life after recently becoming empty-nesters, Tom and Joanna both realized that God was calling them to move on, but to continue serving marginalized people in an urban community. They were looking for a ministry that could benefit from Tom’s proven gifts for building new organizations and taking existing organizations to the next level, his deep passion for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for helping to transform urban neighborhoods, for serving marginalized folks in cities, and for championing reconciliation (people with God and people with people). It is clear that God gifted and prepared Tom for this new role at Hartford City Mission.
His calling, abilities, experience, and passion align almost perfectly with the requirements in the position description that Hartford City Mission set forth at the beginning of our search for our first executive director. The board members sensed God’s peace and were unanimous in their decision to call Tom to join our work here in Hartford.”
To learn more about Hartford City Mission, visit www.hartfordcitymission.org.
